The crushing and disgusting story is pretty well delivered by the competent direction, cinematography and acting, but other than that, the movie's dragged down by the overly large set of characters and its insistence in just portraying the events, with no real urgency to it. It's a good movie, but it lacks emotion and, therefore, fails to inspire emotions in the viewer.

Lacks a dramatic focus and it too scatterbrained in its ideology. Cargo 200 lacks sustained tension and never feels like it's heading anywhere. There are too many plot and character strands to properly build understanding and characterization. It also lacks momentum and emotion and is too dull to be a genre or comedic film, while its lack of pathos makes it undramatic. Cargo 200 just leaves you cold and indifferent.

[Spoilers] Yes, a horrifying portrait of late Soviet life, Walking Spanish to its bleak demise, but let's not rule out the blackest, laugh-in-your-face humour. What else in this context could explain a condemned man, a religious man, one falsely accused, saying that things will change soon just before he is shot in the head unawares? "Your fiance's arrived".

With this Balabanov goes much further than he ever did. The film is not aesthetically beautiful at all. In some moments it may seem repulsive but it gives a perfect image of Russia in the late 80s. It's a very symbolic film with laid-back but still realistic and harsh metaphors. Absolutely a must.

The movie highlights the absurd, comical elements in its story, it feels as if they didn't want to miss a single joke, and then you're told it's real. Well, I guess this tension is a way to express how rotten the Soviet police was. I liked how the spatial and temporal relations of different events were clean-cut. And this vivid coloring might serve as an instrument to tone up theatricality.

This film is up on YouTube with English subtitles so watch it before it gets taken down. Certainly gives a different view of the mid 80's in the CCCP as compared to the nostalgia the people who lived at those times seem to be falling into. Utterly grim yet fascinating film.

I am in shock after seeing this film. Being Russian myself, living abroad for almost 20 years now, I am certainly forgot what the good'old motherland had to offer. One thing for sure, they don't make films like this anymore. Which is probably a good change, yet I am not that sure what's the message behind the sugary dramas now. SAD part is ... this world still exists there. Its not just 1984. Its really 2011.